Panera Bread Associate
JOB TITLE: Panera Bread associate. JOB DESCRIPTION: First person customers see when they walk in the door, you take their order and proceed to cash them out. Make the drinks at the barista, put up the pastries, get the customers whatever they need from the bakery area. Also if you are doing "dining room" then you are responisble for cleaning the tables, bussing! the dirty dishes, refilling the teas, making more coffees hourly. DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY: If you are working bakery in the morning than you will come in and get a register and begin to take peoples orders. You must be quick, and friendly. People want their pastries/bagels/order taken exactly when they are ready. During breakfast/lunch it is extremely crowed and most of the time you will be trying to get the line down. Sometimes you will have to go make the drinks such as smothies, and the coffees. If you are working dining room during the morning hours you will be refilling the coffees, busing the tables, and cleaning them off. Mopping up spills, cleaning the restrooms. Such things as that. If you are working an afternoon/closing shift as bakery than immediatly when you get there you will begin to pick up after the morning people. Such things include pulling out the shelfs and sweeping behind them, making the back ups for the next morning of the green tea, lemonade, and orange juices. You will also begin to restock everything, the cups, straws, everything in preperation for the opener. (The opener gets there at five am and basically sets out the pasteries and opens the store by bagging the cookies, putting all the freshly baked bread where it needs to go, setting out the bagels everything else is done the night before by the closer.) You try to get as much done before nine which is when we close in order to be able to leave sooner. However it is very important that the upmost attention is given to the customer. Then at closing you take all the dishes to the back to be washed, clean all of the bagels/bread shelfs, make sure that EVERYTHING is restocked, detail the bakery area, label where everything goes on the dishes for the next morning, take out the trash. Then once all this is done, you sweap, and then mop. After that you can tell your manager that you are finished, and they will check you out to make sure everything has been done. If you are working a dining room shift in the afternoon then your primary focus will be to keep the dining room clean and the tables bused, while trying to do as many preclosing duties as you can. Coffees must be made hourly, so right when you get there that should be the first thing that you do. From then on you will continuously be working on keeping the dining room clean, you will clean the windows, the bathrooms, stock up everything in the dining room (sugar, honey, straws, mustard) You will sweap and mop the dining room. When you are closed then you will take the nozzels off of the the soda dispensers, take the coffees and the teas and clean them out. Make sure all the tables are neat and wiped down, and then vaccum. Once you are done, you will get a manager and they will check you out. DESCRIBE A NON-TYICAL DAY:Not very busy, able to get a lot done for closing. HOURS WORKED PER WEEK:It depends what you ask for. At the Panera I work out they are pretty relaxed when it comes to giving you less hours if you need them or more if you ask. Usually around 23, but someties 8. HOURS SPENT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER: None unless you are training, but hours infront of a cash regester is pretty much the whole shift. COMPENSATION: $7.75 per hour. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN EMPLOYED HERE/TYPICAL LIFE CYCLE: I have worked there about seven months. Sometimes people get fired fairly quickly, other times if they are good workers they will keep you on for however long you like. Usually around eight months I should say. HEALTH BENEFITS/HEATH HAZARDS:Besides slipping and the bagel slicer there isn't any hazards. CULTURE AT WORK:Sometimes the people that you deal with can be incredibly aggravating as it is in any job that requires enteraction with people constantly, but for the most part as long as you can smile and say sorry for ridiculous things then you should be fine. The important thing to note is that "the customer is always right" The employees are usually cool, and everyone gets a long, no drama in the work place or anything like that. STRESS LEVEL: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 If if is in the morning and it is really busy I would say around 9 or 10. But for the most part it would be like a four or five just trying to get everything done accordingly. WHAT DO YOU LOVE: I enjoy being able to talk to the regulars, and be friendly with people. I also really like making the drinks, and such things as that. WHAT DO YOU HATE: I hate knowing that there is a line and having to do a million things at once. Also when you are understaffed and have to do jobs that should have already been done. Also when customers are rude. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE GOOD: You must be very people friendly, and out going. Be able to memorize how to make the drinks, and learn a routine. Also don't mind being on your feet the whole five hour shift. IS IT WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE: Pretty much yes. WHAT DID YOU DO TO GET HERE/SCHOOL/TRADES/WORKING UP: Be 16, have prior experience somehow, and present yourself as a hard worker and a team player. WOULD YOU TELL YOU KID TO CHOOSE THE CAREER: Not as a career but as a part time job in the summer.